Ozzie Ball

QUOTE (BaseballNick @ Jun 3, 2009 -> 05:16 PM) He has Scheppers going 5th overall to Baltimore. He did have him going to Baltimore, but he's not in the new mock that was released yesterday.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jun 3, 2009 -> 04:51 PM) Scheppers isn't making it past all of those teams towards the end of the draft. No way. The only way he falls is if teams aren't convinced about his health, but all reports I've read say he's doing nicely. The only reasoning Law gave for not having Scheppers in the first round was that he "doesn't have a home right now in the first round" despite having him ranked as the 3rd best draft prospect, I guess there aren't any teams in need of pitching (fails in attempt to insert sarcasm emoticon here). It doesn't make a lot of sense but then again that's often Law's MO, nonsensical journalism.

QUOTE (BearSox @ Jun 2, 2009 -> 11:58 PM) SS, if we really wanted to call him up. Because of his bat being such a question mark, him showing his ability to play multiple positions would only help him. I wonder who is next to go up to Charlotte though. I don't expect to see Contreras up on the big league roster for more than one start unless he shows big time improvements. If Contreras does go back down to AAA, Viciedo might make sense to promote if he keeps improving. He'll have a Cuban friend with him. Allen is close to getting a promotion as well, as he's done nothing but get better each year. Sounds like a plan to me, I'd at least like to see if he could play 2B due to the aforementioned questions regarding his bat.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 29, 2009 -> 11:33 PM) Newest BA mock draft has the Sox taking high school OF Everett Williams. I'd be thrilled with this, and then use 2 of the next 3 picks on college players. I don't like Williams at all, he looks like a future 4th outfielder to me.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ May 27, 2009 -> 09:16 PM) If we take a pitcher, I think Arnett is my guy (unless someone else drops). I also like Bashmore a lot. He's a nice looking lefty and probably a safe selection if he is there in the 3rd to 5th round (might be gone though). Yeah if Brothers is gone I want Arnett, fastball and slider are both potential plus pitches, curve and change both have solid-average potential. There are some concerns about the workload on his arm but I like him a lot.

QUOTE (bighurt4life @ May 25, 2009 -> 01:15 AM) Sauer has been pretty much crap prior to moving him into the starting rotation. That's kinda strange, usually it works the other way moving a starter into the pen to get some results out of him but who cares. Nice to see him doing well. I don't know about that, a 14:0 K:BB rate in 10 innings pitching out of the 'pen. I'd bet on those kind of peripherals leading to future success almost every time and so far it's looking pretty good for Sauer.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ May 24, 2009 -> 06:50 PM) Quite the dichotomy between April and May for Dex. April: 1-0, 1.69 ERA, 21.1 IP, 15 H, 5 BB, 23 K, .195 BAA May: 0-2, 5.87 ERA, 23.0 IP, 32 H, 6 BB, 38 K, .330 BAA He's been the victim of some bad luck, currently his BABIP is at .364, that's higher than any starter in the Majors last year who pitched 100 or more innings

According to assistant GM Rick Hahn Upchurch has been pitching in extended spring training and will be assigned to the Great Falls Voyagers when their season starts in around a months time.

Infante had the worst start of his season last night lasting just 4 innings (his shortest start of the season) and giving up 5 earned runs. His ERA on the year jumps to 2.56.

QUOTE (tommy @ May 20, 2009 -> 07:35 PM) That's some great info coming from a GM - vice. No word on Beckham or Viciedo, that's surprising. There was a note on Viciedo but it wasn't performance related. http://soxmachine.com/blogs/soxmachine/default.aspx

Keith Law's top 100 prospects list is up but it's only for subscribers. Are we allowed to post that stuff here? Here's the link anyway: http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/draft2009/i...tory?id=4161981 Just a couple of quick notes from his list: 9 of his top 10 are pitchers In something of a shock he has James Paxton at #3 Soxtalk favourites Rex Brothers and A.J. Pollock are at #27 and 36 respectively. EdIT: Wrong link first time round.

An interesting post over at Future RedBirds on the risks of drafting high school pitchers early. http://www.futureredbirds.net/2009/05/19/d...chool-pitching/

http://www.pgcrosschecker.com/Articles/Dis...spx?article=791 I'd tone down most of what was written here as this guy seems to be drinking massive amounts of the Schuster Kool-Aid, not that I can blame him, he did just watch a 17k no-hitter after all in which just about everything Schuster did must have looked great. I just worry about taking command oriented prospects early because if they lose that command (which seems to happen a lot more frequently than power pitching prospects losing their strikeout ability), then they're all of a sudden just a fringy pitching prospect, see Broadway, Lance. The unconventional delivery also causes me some concern, and not because I think it'll result in him being injury prone (which it might), but because most inexperienced prep hitters won't have seen anything like him before and as he rises up the levels the hitters are a lot less likely to be fooled by his delivery and that's when his stuff comes into question, is it going to be good enough? I have some doubts. However he is a very intriguing prospect that I would have to consider in the late 3rd round range but ultimately I think I'd pass on Patrick Schuster.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ May 16, 2009 -> 12:14 AM) Whose PG? I can't say I've seen him pitch, but I'm hoping to catch some footage of his start tonight against Ohio State. If he in fact had a plus slider, I'd say he'd be a lot more interesting, but I read a ton of reports indicating that there is a lot more juice than truth to Arnett (and when I say that I mean there is a lot of hype and that really his stuff isn't as good as advertised at least in terms of what publications are saying). Again, this is based on zero first hand experience when it comes to him, but I read a lot of places indicating that he had a pretty non-existent secondary pitch, although it had improved this year. Perfect Game, or PGCrosschecker technically in this case, here's the link to the quote I posted http://www.pgcrosschecker.com/Articles/Dis...spx?article=824

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ May 15, 2009 -> 10:19 PM) Here's a really interesting article with a guy that takes a statistical approach based upon the college players past history. AJ Pollack, one of my favorites, looks really good based upon this guys analysis. http://projectprospect.com/article/2008/12...-quantitatively Another guy I like ranks fairly high on the list as well, Josh Fellhauer from Fullerton, although I wouldn't take him in the first couple ruonds of the draft. Another interesting part of the article is where he talks about how he expected Josh Fields to not live up to expectations based upon his collegiate statistics. Nice find, some very interesting stuff on there.

PG has a slightly different take on his secondary stuff:

QUOTE (Cali @ May 15, 2009 -> 06:53 PM) How's his Defense? Statistically, going by the TotalZone metric he's been worth 17 runs above average in pro ball, that averages out to +7.68 runs/150 games, as a comparison +10 runs/150 games is considered very good. I don't know how well minor league defensive statistics would translate to major league ability but I've got to assume it's at least a reasonable representation.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ May 13, 2009 -> 01:38 PM) I know everyone says hes a non-prospect but Wesley Whisler did it again. 7IP 3H 0R 3BB 2SO. ERA on the year down to 1.76 He still has a brutal K/BB rate, unremarkable ground ball rate, an unsustainable HR/BIA rate, a mediocre WHIP. I don't see much to like.

Name: Gregory Infante Born: 07/10/1987 Birthplace: Caracas, Venezuela Height: 6' 2" Weight: 185 Bats: R Throws: R Highlights 2006: Signed by the Chicago White Sox as a free agent on May 5, 2006. Made eight relief appearances and two starts in the Rookie-level Venezuelan Summer League. 2007: Went 2-3 with a 4.01 ERA (15 ER/33.2 IP) and 33 strikeouts in 10 games (eight starts) with Rookie-level Bristol, limiting opponents to a .207 average. 2008: Was 4-3 with a 2.66 ERA (22 ER/74.1 IP) in his second season with Advanced Rookie Bristol. ...Tied for second in the Appalachian League in IP (74.1) and ranked fifth in ERA. ... Named APPY Pitcher of the Week for 7/28-8/3, going 1-0 with a 0.69 ERA (1 ER/13.0 IP) during that span. ... Pitched in five games with La Guaira of the Venezuelan Winter League. 2009: Was assigned to low-A Kannapolis where he was the opening day starter pitching 6 innings of hitless ball, walking 2 and striking out 11. 2009 Statistics: Team League W L ERA G GS CG SHO SV IP H R ER HR BB SO GO/AO AVG KAN SAL 2 1 2.16 7 7 0 0 0 41.2 30 12 10 2 18 37 1.89 .211

Name: Justin Edwards Born: 09/07/1987 Birthplace: Orlando, FL Position: Pitcher Height: 6'0 Weight: 180 Bats: L Throws: L Highlights 2006: Selected by the Chicago White Sox out of Olympia HS, Orlando in the third round of the 2006 First-Year Player Draft and received a $310,000 bonus. Made his professional debut at Rookie-level Bristol. ... Owned a 3.89 ERA (19 ER/44.0 IP) after his first 10 starts before allowing 12 ER over his final two (8.2 IP). 2007: Went 6-9 with a 5.79 ERA (74 ER/115.0 IP) in 27 games (21 starts) with Class A Kannapolis. 2008: Missed the 2008 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery. 2009: Took the vacant roster spot at Kannapolis of starter Dan Hudson after he was promoted to Winston-Salem and made his 2009 debut one year after his TJ surgery. 2009 Statistics: Team League W L ERA G GS CG SHO SV IP H R ER HR BB SO GO/AO AVG KAN SAL 1 1 0.82 2 2 0 0 0 11.0 4 2 1 1 1 12 1.50 .108

I really like Sanchez, if we could get him with either our 2nd or 3rd pick I'd be all over that. I don't think his ceiling is quite high enough to take him at no. 23, but I like I say, I'd really like him with one of our other picks.

That was my question. As I mentioned in another thread I really like Edwards and hopefully he has a breakout year because we need pitching prospects in the worst way.

Someone should do a profile on LSU's Jared Mitchell, he's a really intriguing outfielder, potential 5 tool-er with speed to burn (also plays WR at LSU). He strikes out a little too much but does walk at a decent rate and could be available when we pick.

According to ESPN's Jason Churchill, Kentucky left-hander James Paxton has chosen the Scott Boras Co. as an advisor. I guess that's a name to strike off the list, I would have liked him with one of our first two picks.

QUOTE (flavum @ May 6, 2009 -> 02:23 PM) What's the story on Justin Edwards? He pitched for Kannapolis in 2007, but was in independent ball in 2008. Today for Kanny: 5 innings, 1 walk, 9 K's Independent ball, are you sure? I was certain he missed all of last year with injury but I may be wrong. I definitely think he's one to watch though, I had him as one of my sleepers coming into last year but obviously that didn't quite work out.